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in Europe, has some similarity to a bean cultivated in India since 
the earliest times. The characteristic peculiarities of the cultivated 
bean and its uncultivated relatives have probably existed for at 
least five or six thousand years, and the original stock from which the 
cultivated bean was derived has long since become extinct. 
PEPPER. 
The derivation and varieties of peppers from all parts of the world 
(genus Capsicum) are described by E. L. Sturtevant (Agr. Sci., 
Vol. II, p. 1). The general effect of climate is to diminish the size 
of the fruit when the seeds are planted in higher latitudes—that is to 
say, with a diminution of temperature. Similarly,-the effect of cold 
nights is to check the growth, diminish the size, and promote early 
ripening. 
KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS. 
The germination of Kentucky blue-grass seed (Poa pratensis), as 
also that of red top and timothy, has been studied by Thomas F. 
Hunt at the agricultural experiment station, Champaign, Ill. Al- 
though the object of the experiment was primarily to determine 
the relative vitality or honesty of the seeds and samples from differ- 
ent sources, yet the results have some bearing upon the question as 
to the best temperature for germination and the possibility of accli- 
matization. Kentucky blue grass, raised in Kentucky, when sown 
in the Geneva sprouting apparatus, would not germinate in thirteen 
weeks at temperatures from 70° to 80° F., whereas 80 per cent of 
meadow fescue and 95 per cent of mammoth red clover sprouted 
during the first week in June, 1888. Again, in 1889 a specimen of 
blue grass from the same locality would not sprout in sixty days at 
an average temperature of 67° F., whereas during the first eight 
days 98 per cent of both timothy and red clover and 85 per cent of 
meadow fescue sprouted. Again, a sample from another dealer in 
Kentucky, tested for thirty days under similar conditions as the last, 
gave one sprout to a hundred seeds. Another sample was sent from 
Chicago to Manitoba and thence to Champaign for testing. Out of 
500 seeds not one sprouted, but in the best of subsequent samples 7 
per cent sprouted. 
Finally, samples were obtained from 19 different sources, mostly 
in Kentucky, and were all tested uniformly in the Geneva apparatus 
at Champaign, IIl., from July 23 to August 31, 1889. The range of 
temperature in the apparatus was from 63.5° to 73.5° F. Out of all 
